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When I sat down to write about data centers a week ago, I thought I was just writing about technology and communities -- and especially, how communities can shape decisions about technology to provide benefits to the people who live there.
And I still firmly believe that is possible. But this has been a mind-boggling education in modern business systems and practices. After years as an historian of 19th century technology, much of this new information feels very familiar. The questions of costs and benefits remain the same, even as the technology changes.
Earlier this month, the Marshalltown City Council voted to approve a 4-month moratorium on data center construction in town. They directed the Planning and Zoning Commission to develop rules to govern data center projects in town, as there currently are none. That is in progress.
And that means the people of Marshalltown have four months in which to learn about the costs and benefits of data centers in order to help shape the future of their own community by going to the meetings, listening carefully, and giving informed comments.
The Council's decision was wise and thoughtful, and based on the reactions from some people in the room, project planning was already underway that will be held up by the moratorium or perhaps limited by new Planning and Zoning rules. That in itself is very interesting.
Knowledge has always been power, and that goes double today. The railroads brought connections to the rest of the world and enabled Marshalltown to become a manufacturing hub for Iowa. But change always comes with costs.
This new technology may offer many of the same benefits, although the costs will differ, and it's up to Marshalltown's city government to balance the two. And the people of Marshalltown can have a voice in that, if they so choose.
Data centers are complicated at many levels, and my goal is to break those complications down into manageable topics and relationships. And I will post links to all my sources at my website www.getyourdatahere.org so you can read the original documentation of everything I have found and reported. The website will also include more information.
The "infrastructure" information I have gathered covers regional electric grid planning, transmission lines, the Marshalltown electric generation plant, and the Marshalltown water treatment plant. The economic data covers sales tax and property taxes, as well as the various ways in which different types of data centers could affect the economy of a town or region.
The next meeting of the Marshalltown Planning and Zoning Commission will be on Thursday, August 6th, at 5 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 10 State Street. There will be special meetings held in the future to present the Commission's work on data center regulations, but the public is welcome at any meeting. I intend to have published all I have learned before the next meeting.
I started out as a railroad historian, but I ended my career working in "platform health" for Microsoft. (We were part of Security, but close to the ground, where we hunted the bad guys who build tunnels.) So my focus on technology and its effects on communities spans nearly a half-century of work and nearly two centuries of American experience.
Living out in the country, what do I care? I care because I've been involved with Marshalltown in many ways over the past twenty years, and because I know that "just folks" have great power to shape the future, if they choose to use it.
Annie Grieshop has lived in rural Marshall County for nearly 20 years and enjoys researching history, technology, and public policies that shape local communities.